[Margaret Pilkington]

Keetah, it is good that you stand by what you said......you have to have the courage of your convictions.

Artistic pursuits still happen in primay schools......you can clearly see that by standing by the gates of any school around Easter time...seeing the children bringing home t heir home made hats, depictions of eggs and other such stuff.
This week at the school my daughters two children attend, they are making decorated crowns to wear at their street party on Thursday, to celebrate the Royal Wedding...they were sent home with templates and the children were asked to make the crowns as colourful as possible using whatever material they liked.......but putting coins on to represent the 'sparkle'...this money will go into the schools coffers and the children as a whole will benefit from it in a variety of ways(theatre visits...travelling art exhibitions aimed purely at children, science workshops etc etc)So with some imagination and work artistic pursuits can still be enjoyed.......and children will still be bringing home those smudgie pictures to grace the fridge door.

Now whether these children will be fired with enthusiasm to continue their artistic pursuits or even the appreciation of art(in all its forms)when they go to secondary school, well I guess that is down to the child and the school.